62Artturi Lehkonen LW

Canadiens' Artturi Lehkonen: Promoted to second line

by RotoWire Staff | Special to CBSSports.com

(3/17/19)Lehkonen was promoted to the second line for Saturday's 2-0 loss to the Blackhawks, Stu Cowan of the Montreal Gazette reports. He finished with three shots, two blocked shots and one hit over 14:30 of ice time.

Lehkonen was promoted off the fourth line despite having scored just once in the past 34 games. He took the spot of the struggling Jonathan Drouin on a line with Max Domi, one of the team's best playmakers, and Andrew Shaw. Julien defended the move, reminding reporters that Lehkonen hit a post and had a scoring chance stymied by Corey Crawford. Lehkonen has a 5.3 shooting percentage, which suggests he's not a finisher.

Canadiens' Artturi Lehkonen: Snaps long point drought

by RotoWire Staff | Special to CBSSports.com

(3/8/19)Lehkonen scored his eighth goal of the season in Thursday's 5-2 loss to the Sharks.

Lehkonen had gone without a point in 15 straight entering the night before being the first to crack Sharks goalie Martin Jones. The Finnish winger has 25 points in 68 games this season, just three shy of his career-high 28 from his rookie year. He gets only trace amounts of power-play time and cannot be trusted as a point producer while skating on the fourth line.

Canadiens' Artturi Lehkonen: Slumping, demoted

by RotoWire Staff | Special to CBSSports.com

(2/20/19)Lehkonen skated on the fourth line in Tuesday's 3-2 win over Columbus. He had three shots and three hits over 13:18 of ice time.

Lehkonen was part of coach Claude Julien's line-juggling to accommodate the return of Paul Byron (forearm). The 23-year-old forward has not scored since Dec. 28 (22 games), so moving him to the fourth line was an easy decision for the coach. Lehkonen will remain part of Montreal's penalty-kill unit, and Julien sees the value in his reliable game (plus-9). "I'm sure he's frustrated about it. But at the same time, he is a good penalty-killer, he does work hard, he's very reliable five-on-five. It's not from lack of trying, it's from lack of producing and we'd like for him to produce," the coach told Stu Cowan of the Montreal Gazette. "So certainly we could use some of that touch from him. At the same time, it's not like he's bringing nothing to the table."

Canadiens' Artturi Lehkonen: Sets new futility mark

by RotoWire Staff | Special to CBSSports.com

(2/10/19)Lehkonen failed to score for an 18th consecutive game in Saturday's 4-3 loss to the Maple Leafs.

Lehkonen surpassed an earlier stretch of futility when he went 17 games without a goal between Oct. 6 and Nov. 13. There was a sense that the Finn was snakebitten in 2017-18, when he created a significant number of scoring chances relative to his teammates, but was unable to finish. This season, Lehkonen ranks fourth in scoring chances (99) and fifth in high-danger scoring chances (41) but is still not burying those opportunities. At some point, it may not be about bad luck and more about the 23-year-old's finishing ability.